Transcriber: Tanya Cushman Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
Hello and good day.
I believe that all of you and every person born into this world
deserves to live a life of peace, with dignity and security.
I believe that this world is so great of a place
and that the forces of life on this planet are so diverse and so amazing
that traditional models of schooling
simply can't fully appreciate and fully value what it has to offer.
And when I talk about traditional models of schooling,
I'm referring to the system
where groups of people congregate in real-time, physical spaces -
what we might call classrooms -
over sequenced, set periods of time
to learn something.
Now, that has advantages, and it's done great things,
but it also has limitations.
So I believe online education and the virtual spaces,
the virtual communities that it can create,
present us with a unique opportunity to think outside of the box,
as educators and teachers and students and learners,
so that we can more fully appreciate what this world has to offer
and more fully value
what these diverse forces of life can teach us and instill in us.
I believe that online education can transcend
the geographic, the financial and the pedagogical limitations
that we find in traditional models of schooling
so that it will allow us to teach and learn
across lines of cultural difference in ways that we never thought possible,
and this is essential to building global peace.
Now, these are beliefs that fuel the work that I do
at the intersection of peace, nonviolence and online education.
Some of you, you may share these beliefs.
Some of you may not.
Some of you may be hearing this and thinking to yourselves,
"This guy is very naive," or "He's too idealistic."
Either way, I want to shed some light on why I believe what I believe.
Now, I've held these values for a relatively long period of time,
but I've never held them more strongly than I have for the last two years.
And that's because I have a wonderful and amazing two-year-old daughter,
and her name is Kaya.
And when I spend time with my daughter,
as an educator and as a father, I always find myself thinking,
What is education going to look like?
What is it going to feel like when she's of college age,
16, 17 years from now?
And I think anyone who has a child,
anyone who spends time with children
ends up asking themselves these kinds of questions.
What kind of world is this child going to grow up in?
What was my life like when I was that child's age?
And how much has the world changed
and how much has it stayed the same between then and now?
And then we look to the future and say,
What is X, Y or Z going to look like 20, 30, 40 years from now?
You know, these are fascinating, interesting,
challenging and oftentimes humbling questions to think about.
And when I think about them,
I turn, for inspiration, to a George Bernard Shaw quote
that Robert Kennedy used a lot in his speeches.
And it goes along the lines of what some of our other speakers have said.
And that is, "Some people see things as they are and ask why.
Others dream of things that never were and ask why not."
And as we look to the future as a global community,
I am convinced that we need more why-not thinkers
and more why-not educators.
As we look to the future as a global community,
we need to do more
than try and adapt what we learn, how we learn and with whom we learn it
to fit traditional models of education.
As we look to the future,
we need to do more than try and replicate what we do in class, online.
As we look to the future,
we need to dream of a world
where online education that is infused with the values of peace and nonviolence
can create something totally new,
and then ask ourselves, why not?
Now, this is what I believe.
Let me tell you what I know.
I know that peace is an active process.
It is not a static state.
It is a constant journey of becoming.
I know that peace is a skill set
that can be developed and it can be applied.
I know that peace is an evolving body of knowledge
that is understood and interpreted by individuals and cultures differently,
and that there's power and beauty in that difference.
I know that peace and nonviolence can be taught.
I know this because I've experienced it as a student.
I've experienced it here at American University,
taking Barbara Wien's Peace Education class
or Colman McCarthy's Alternatives to Violence class,
participating in the dialog development group,
participating in creative peace initiatives.
I know it can be taught because I've experienced it as a student.
I know it can be taught because I identify as a peace educator.
So I've taught courses on peace pedagogy to in-service and pre-service teachers,
I've facilitated workshops on nonviolence here at AU, in DC and around the world,
and I work with an amazing group of people at the United States Institute of Peace
to build online courses
on peace building, conflict management and conflict prevention.
So I know it can be taught.
I also know that this world needs a lot more peace education.
I know this because as long as there is human suffering on this planet,
there is work to be done.
Human suffering or planetary suffering -
there is work to do be done.
And when I say this,
I think of the Reverend James Lawson,
and for those of you who don't know who he is,
Reverend Lawson is a prolific civil rights leader,
he is a nonviolence educator and trainer,
and I've had the privilege to work with him and learn from him
over the past few years.
And in several instances, I have heard him say,
"We as a people do not yet have the world we are capable of having."
And what is so profound about this statement
and why it resonates with me
is because on the one hand,
it expresses a deep dissatisfaction
with suffering, injustice, inequality and violence
that still plagues this planet,
but on the other hand,
it expresses hope in humanity to overcome those challenges,
as we have done so many times in the past.
And so again, I envision a world
where online education
infused with the values of peace and nonviolence
is this hope in humanity manifest.
Now, I'm talking about beliefs and values,
and I think beliefs and values,
these are things that rest on top of your life's mountain,
these are things that we aspire to.
But we also have to talk about principles because principles are what guide us
on our journey to the top of that mountain.
And when I think about principles as they relate to peace education,
I think about blossoms; this is the metaphor I use.
I think about beautiful blossoms that people plant and cultivate and foster
and have been for generations and generations.
And I imagine these blossoms guiding our journey
to the top of that mountain
where people live a life of peace, with dignity and security.
And so I've identified seven blossoms of peace education.
And these are blossoms, these are principles,
that anyone can integrate into their work as an educator.
It doesn't matter what subject matter you teach, what age group you work with,
these are blossoms of peace education that you can integrate into your work.
So I want to share them with you now,
and I want to provide a couple of examples
of what these blossoms and principles look like in the online education space.
Blossom number one, community building:
finding things that unite and bind us together as a group
while at the same respecting and celebrating our differences.
You know, at the beginning of every semester,
I usually ask my students - I see one in the audience -
I ask my students,
"How many times have you gone through an entire semester
or an entire year in a class,
you shared time, you shared space with that group.
You get to the end of that semester, that year,
and you realize, "I still don't know the names of the vast majority of people
with whom I just shared that time and space with"?
And I think they immediately recognize that was a lost opportunity
to build community and develop relationship:
"I spent an entire semester, and I don't know these people."
A peace educator takes advantage of the space and time
that we have with our learners
to create community and build relationship.
So how do you do this in a class, online or onsite?
Well, I do something called "thought-provoking questions."
And I ask students to respond to a series of questions
that provide a window
into their personality, their background, their values, their culture.
So what are some examples of these questions?
Well, one might be,
If you could have dinner with anyone, past or present, dead or alive,
who would that person be and why?
Another question might be,
If you were asked to teach a course on your philosophy of life,
what would be the one book that would be required reading?
Another question might be,
If you could pick a moment in your life and capture it in a painting,
and you hung it on a wall
so it was the first thing you saw in the morning
and the last thing you saw at night,
what would that moment and what would that memory be?
And just answering that question for yourself can be very profound,
very enlightening.
Sharing your response with another person and hearing somebody else's response
can be enlightening and profound and can start to build relationship
so we can have deep, authentic, real conversations
about serious problems
and maybe walk away from that semester with a new friend and a new community.
But that's just part one.
The exercise works because there's a follow-up.
You ask students, "I want you to look at all the dinner dates
that your colleagues and your peers have set up,
and I want you to pick three dinners you want to attend,
and I want you to email that student,
call them on the phone or ping them on Facebook,
and I want you to tell them,
"This is why I want to attend your dinner."
I want you to look at the entire course list
that your peers have created,
and I want you to see all the required reading,
and I want you to pick three classes you want to take,
and I want you to email that student, call him or ping him,
and I want you to tell her or him
what it is you hope to learn from taking their class.
And I want you to imagine all these paintings
that your peers have created,
I want you to imagine them in a gallery, hanging up all around,
and I want you to think about which of these paintings
are you going to spend the most time observing and contemplating?
And then I want you to email that student, call him, ping him on Facebook
and tell him what is it about that painting
that resonates with me and speaks to me.
This starts to develop relationship.
This starts to build communities
so we can have authentic, deep conversations about serious problems
and we can walk away from that experience with a friend and with a community.
Blossom number two is enabling multiple intelligences,
and this is a relatively simple idea.
We all learn in a variety of different ways.
Some of us are verbal learners,
meaning you can make meaning and comprehend and understand ideas
when you hear somebody talk them out for you,
like a TED Talk or a lecture or a presentation.
Some of us are visual and spatial learners.
We need images, graphics and pictures.
We need to use the space in order to make meaning
and understand and comprehend ideas.
Some of us are bodily, kinesthetic learners.
We need to get up from our seat, move around,
manipulate things with our hands
in order to make meaning, understand and comprehend ideas.
Some of us are interpersonal.
We need to hear our own voice in conversation with another person
or with a group of people
in order to make meaning and comprehend and understand ideas.
Some of are intrapersonal:
we need to be by ourselves,
and we need to be in solitary reflection,
and we need to journal in order to make meaning,
comprehend and understand ideas.
The list goes on,
but a peace educator creates a safe and welcome learning environment
by welcoming and acknowledging all of these learning styles
and providing opportunities for all kinds of learners to thrive
and for all types of learning to be developed.
And I think online education provides a unique opportunity to do this.
In the online education field,
sometimes it's referred to as "differentiated learning."
I can share and present and engage learners
in a variety of different ways,
and then they're provided choices
on how they want to engage with that material.
And my colleagues,
the brilliant people that I work with at USIP,
we pride ourselves on thinking about our target audience
and thinking about all the ways in which we can engage them
in that subject matter,
whether it's through video or audio or text
or infographics or group discussions or webinars or conference calls.
There's a variety of ways we can engage people,
and we want to present them, all of them, to them
so they can have ways to learn to their strengths.
Blossom number three, nurturing emotional intelligence.
This is acknowledging the feelings, the experiences
that each individual uniquely brings to the learning space on any given day
and helping them cope with those emotions
and navigate social interactions where those emotions are at play.
It's about developing empathy and compassion
with this community that we are creating.
And, actually, online, I think TED does a good job in doing this.
If you ever go on TED and watch some of their videos,
and they ask you, "Please rate this video,"
they don't ask you to rate the video on a star scale, one to five,
they don't ask you to rate it on "oh, this was low, medium, high"
or "bad, satisfactory, good, excellent."
They ask you,
"How did this talk make you feel?"
They ask you, "Were you inspired?
Were you motivated?
Were you depressed? Were you frustrated?"
They ask you to describe how this talk made you feel.
Now, can you imagine if,
when you're introduced to ideas and videos and texts and readings
in an online course,
and you're asked to evaluate them from time to time,
but you're asked to evaluate them,
"How did this experience make you feel, watching this video?
And how did it make other people in this community feel,
watching this video?"
This taps into what is going on in your body and in this space
in ways that I think are unique,
that you can do that in an online space
that are potentially more difficult to do in a traditional schooling model.
Blossom number four, exploring approaches to peace.
Now, at the beginning of this talk, I said,
"Some of you may be listening to me, saying, 'This guy's naive, idealistic,'"
and I think anyone who talks about peace and nonviolence
runs the risk of being branded as idealistic, and that's fine.
I'll wear that.
But I also realize that peace is viewed in a variety of different ways.
And because it's viewed in different ways,
people have different strategies and approaches to achieve those visions.
So how do we integrate that into what we teach?
And again, it doesn't matter what subject matter.
Every discipline can be put towards the purpose of peace.
And so I rely on Ian Harris's "Seven Strategies of Peace,"
the National Peace Academy's "Five Spheres of Peace,"
"The Six Steps of Kingian Nonviolence."
These are all approaches to peace.
So how do I incorporate this into an online space?
Last summer, I taught a peace education course
for DC teachers,
and we had something called "daily peace actions."
These were things I invited them to do every single day during the week,
that allowed them to experiment
with different strategies and approaches to peace.
So, for example, one week it was quiet time.
And I asked them to find five minutes each day that week
to sit in silence or a quiet place,
focus on their breath and try and be as present as possible.
And then they had a learning buddy they called up on the phone,
and they reflected on what that experience was like.
Was it difficult? Was it easy? Comforting? Frustrating?
What would something like this look like in my classroom?
How would I adapt it?
Another week, we had a daily peace action that was more interpersonal,
and it was make someone smile.
The task was every single day,
your job is to try and bring a smile to somebody's face,
a friend, a family member, a colleague, a stranger.
At the end of the week, they called their learning buddy and reflected:
What was their strategy?
What did you do to try and bring a smile to somebody's face?
What impact did it have on your day?
What impact did it have on that person's day?
What would something like this look like in my classroom? In my school culture?
How would I adapt it? How would I change it?
The key is get out from in front of your computer
and experiment with these approaches to peace.
And can you imagine
if we're teaching and learning across lines of cultural difference,
but we're all experimenting with the same action on a given week,
but we're experimenting with them
in different contexts and in different cultures,
the beauty that can come from the sharing and reflection?
Blossom number five, reframing history.
This means challenging the dominance of violence and war
in the narratives of countries, cultures and peoples
and recognizing,
as the historian Will Durant has said,
that history may teach us that our history is a river running red with blood,
that is filled with men and soldiers and generals who are killing one another,
when in reality, most of human history exists on the riverbanks
where people are forming families, building homes and caring for one another
and trying as hard as they can to steer clear of that river.
What happens when we reframe our narratives and our stories
to focus on what's happening on the riverbanks?
Changes the way we think about ourselves,
doesn't it?
Blossom number six is transforming conflict nonviolently,
and this means embracing the inevitability of conflict
and recognizing that it is necessary.
Conflict is necessary in order for any social change to occur.
The question is how do we wage it, resolve it and manage it
without using violence?
And this is where we see the work of restorative justice,
peer mediation,
theater of the oppressed,
so that we can act out and experiment
with different ways to resolve, manage and wage conflict
before we do it in the real world.
And the last blossom, blossom number seven,
is the all-encompassing, overarching blossom,
and that is skill building.
These principles, these blossoms -
integrating them into our teaching and education
is not an intellectual exercise.
These skills that we model and we practice and we develop
are intended to be used outside of the classroom
in our homes, in our neighborhoods,
in our communities,
in our country, in our world.
This is not an intellectual exercise,
because as Reverend Lawson said,
"We as a people do not yet have the world we are capable of having."
And we have a long distance to go
from the bottom of this mountain to the top of that mountain,
but I believe that all of us can dream of a world
where online education
that is infused with the values and principles of peace and nonviolence
will help to ensure that every person born into this world
lives a life of peace, with dignity and security.
We can dream this,
we can see this,
and we can ask ourselves, why not?
Thank you.
(Applause)